Not much use in me posting it as a mod. It would be much easier for anyone who wants it to simply download irfanview or some other image software, and do a batch operation on the map tiles. To zip them all up would be a gig of files, approx.

Here's how I did it (extremely simple):

1) download and installed irfanview (free)
2) make a backup copy of the default map images folder which are at

World War One Gold\Data\Graph\Map

3) open up irfanview in batch mode
4) using the irfanview batch mode advanced options, change and save all the map tiles (but not the ones that start with the name 'winter') in the above folder. All I did was increase the 'gamma' of each map tile image to 2.50. You can choose any level of gamma you want.

Just make sure the modified images are in the above folder, and when next you start WWI Gold you'll see a lighter map.

If there was a way to use something other than .bmp files, it would sure make loading of the map faster, I think.

I tried it again, plus trying to reduce the file sizes. I ended up going to 256 color images, which reduced the file sizes by 1/3. I think it looks good.
Now I can upload the zipped folder somewhere - have to figure out where - I'll post here with a link.

Well downloaded and installed irfanview. Tweeked the gamma just a bit, but also decreased the colour saturation. Started the game up to see the new look - whoa what a mess! Apparently the purple (magenta?) around each map segment got darker and this now shows up everywhere on the game map. I went back the the map folder and used the floodfill tool to return the purple background to it's original hue. I did this for just a few files and it worked. Is there a way to do this in one shot, otherwise each of the map files has to be done one at a time, and there is over 6,000 of them.